Hi, there if that was the case, it wouldn't have been around so many years as one of the most popular hair loss treatments. I was shedding like crazy when I first started the treatment losing over 300 - 500 hairs a day and I am still not sure if the hairs I lost at that time have all come back. But it is stable now and hopefully will get better. you will have to try it yourself to see if it works for you. But remember your hair will become dependent on it. Good luck!!!!!!

The Big Three (since Feb, 2012)

-Finasteride daily - 1mg (from Feb/2012 to 01/Sep/2013) 0.5mg (from 02/Sep/2013 - 02/Oct/2013). Proscar 2.5mg (for two weeks). Proscar/Propecia 1.5mg (Oct/2013 - present)
-Minoxidil (rogaine foam) - twice a day (from Feb/2012 to Nov/2012) once a day (from Nov/2012 - 01/Sep/2013) twice a day (02/Sep/2013 - present)
-Nizoral 1% - once every 2 to 3 days (stopped using it for a while between March/2013 to August/2013)

Rogaine will synchronize the hairs to shed all at the same time and grow at the same time. So think of it this way, without Rogaine certain hairs were going to shed as they normally do and that is what you are used to noticing. You add rogaine and it reprograms your hair to shed some hairs that were supposed to shed later EARLIER PLUS on top of that the normal amount you were going to shed if you were not using rogaine. So now you see more shedding than you normally do and its panic time. Now you have to wait another six months or longer until these hairs come back to the point you notice them. So during those six months you think your hair is getting worse and you panic the whole time waiting for them to return and that panic does not help your situation. It will take about 12 months to 24 months for the synchronized shed to appear to recover so you will always go thru these large sheds on and off as you use rogaine. Its a roller coaster ride. Once you get used to your new reprogramed shedding from rogaine, you panic less. All rogaine really is doing is keeping more hair in the growth phase so it appears your hair is thicker. Its all an illusion but its real. Some of the weaker hairs can get thicker so that will help too but eventually these weaker hairs will lose the battle if they are destined to become vellus hairs. So rogaine is like a time machine that reprograms your hair cycle to be more synchronized than when you don't use it. So when you stop using it your hair will go back to the way it used to synchronize and you will go thru one huge shed. And then it will take a year or more to eventually get to the way it used to synchronize before you used rogaine so you will go back to shedding alot less hair but the balding process will continue as it always has even when you were using rogaine but you will be convinced your hair is getting better now because you are shedding less and your panic is gone. However, little did you know is Rogaine did work but it never stopped your hair from balding in the first place it only gave you 2 years of unbelievable growth and thickening. However, if you used it and thought you were balding fast and later stop and things get better, its only because you are actually balding at a snails pace and Rogaine will work BEST on these people as it will keep the hair synched the way it did at first so you will seem to maintain on rogaine. However if you have aggressive balding which supposedly is not very common, once you stop using Rogaine you will continue to bald but you will notice it more because your hair is not synchronized the same as it was ON rogaine.

I stopped Rogaine due to sides. The other reason I stopped was because I realized it was just creating an illusion of thicker hair when it was in the growth phase but when it was in the shedding phase it looked worse and I would panic. I would rather stay with shedding less( without rogaine) hair than more as it psychologically makes you think your are not losing your hair as much. I have very mild thinning and it thins at a snails pace, so rogaine is theoretically a perfect choice because it will give me the illusion of thicker hair and my normal thinning will still go on but in my mind I will be convinced Rogaine is maintaining but its just I am not aggressively balding. So is Rogaine worth it for this illusion, not in MY case. I want something that can actually reverse or slow down balding. Supposedly Proxiphen and Propecia do that so I use them. So far its working( pyschologically at least) but maybe I would be fine without them too. Who knows? By the way this is why Rogaine will not save your hairline too. It took me many years for this to sink in so I hope I made it so you understand it better. This is why Rogaine will work if you don't have aggressive balding but it you do, it won't help much to the point its worth the hassle. Think about this logically, there is no way to know what would of happened if you never used anything if you decide to use something. You just are basically having faith in what you are currently using to believe it is helping. So for me as long as I believe using Proxiphen and Propecia is helping, I will believe its slowing down my thinning. I could gamble it all and stop both and still be thinning the same but I need my drugs to "survive" psychologically. Everyone in here who is using treatments is doing exactly the same. We use treatments to buy us confidence that our hair will not get worse but we will never know the true outcome unless we quit cold turkey. Some do and win and some don't and lose. I don't want to gamble with my hair right now. So I will continue to buy my faith as so many chose to do here.

House, MD: "See, this is why I don't waste money on shrinks, cause you give me all this great insight for free."

Thats how I use to view hair loss for a long time. At first I just pretended it was not happening (for a year VERY little shedding) then I decided to go on propecia and used it as almost this escape mentally "yeah don't worry too much, you are on this pill now". Shedding a lot faster since then and have not seen any regrowth, only hair loss speed up. I don't know if the increased shedding and propecia are linked but I have been shedding more and more since I have been on it, and it will be a year the end of next month. I got on avodart a month ago, eat my veggies and take biotin.

I am just emotionally done with treatments that give me that escape. I just want stuff that works and stops me from panicing about my hair. I am depressed about enough other stuff right now, I can't handle more.

If all rogaine can promise is giving me a series of rapid shedding over and over for as long as I use it then maybe I wont use it. My hair is a mess but I just want something that can stop the shedding, would love regrowth but not at the price of having a panic attack every month because my hair looks like **** all over again.

Why would anyone use rogaine if it just promised continual massive sheds every 6 months?

Thanks Bowser, I wish I would had that understanding when I first used Rogaine and I would have never bothered using it. Bryan helped me understand it better but I did my best now to make it more understandable with case scenarios. Blondguy, people use Rogaine out of desperation to buy the illusion of thicker hair for as long as it will last. Rogaine does work but only with Propecia will it work in the sense, you are actually slowing down balding. Propecia( or avodart if you don't mind a higher risk for more sides) is the most important treatment to use if you want to try to fight MPB. And like Rogaine, you will shed more at first with Propecia until your body gets used to it and then after 1 to 2 years shedding might SEEM to stabilize IF Propecia is slowing things down and winning the battle against YOUR predetermined genetic pattern of baldness. If Propecia is not going to win your battle, then you are still going to bald but maybe at a much slower pace to a point you think you might be maintaining. When you read about cases where someone continues to bald rapidly even if they are using Propecia alone or with Rogaine, this just means this person has very aggressive MPB and their predetermined genetic pattern will win the battle and they will blame the medication for doing it simply because they think these medications are supposed to work for everyone in the same manner.

Rogaine is basically icing on the cake that might keep the hairs looking thicker if Propecia is preventing them from becoming weaker or vellus. However, due to the side effects of Rogaine, I wont use it for my icing on my cake. I use Proxiphen for that as it does not give me sides. Blondguy, Propecia does work but if your genetics are very strong for MPB, you have to face the facts that you will still continue to bald but much slower. People think these medications might miraculous cure their situation so they will take the risk. Others just quit cold turkey and accept their fate. However, many people on here don't have super aggressive MPB, so all they have to decide is if they want to buy their confidence with a pill or lotion. I did and probably always will. However, I will be the first to admit, I don't have aggressive MPB so I will always be a success story no matter what I use. Blondguy it takes 2 to 3 years for shedding to slow down as long as you do not alter your treatments. Over the past year my shedding is very little now because my treatments are very consistent and I stopped using Rogaine which means I don't have a large synchronized shed to deal with every six months or so. You have the knowledge, you have to decide if you want to BUY into it, no pun intended.

So the take home message is be prepared to have an increase in shedding if you chose a medication like Propecia and Rogaine, that will alter your normal( what you observe as normal every day) hair growth cycles. If you don't want this to happen then don't use anything, its that simple. Faith sometimes comes with a high price if you feel you are backed into a corner.

House, MD: "See, this is why I don't waste money on shrinks, cause you give me all this great insight for free."

Blondguy, people use Rogaine out of desperation to buy the illusion of thicker hair for as long as it will last. Rogaine does work but only with Propecia will it work in the sense, you are actually slowing down balding.

So are you saying rogaine does not actually regrow and provide thicker hair for ANYONE?

Or are you saying rogaine only really works IF propecia is doing its job and balding is stopped. (non aggressive MPBers) Otherwise for them they will just continue to see massive sheds every 6 months, and provide the illusion of fuller hair in the mean time? And it just is a cycle that continues again and again until you actually are bald, and have less hair with each shed?

If this is the case do you think I am in a situation where rogaine could still help me? Or is that not something fully determined until at least after propecia has halted my hair loss. (If that happens)

And if all that is true, why the hell would my dermo tell me that to try rogaine if I feel propecia has not been working?

Rogaine can cause regrowth and thicker hair but it will NOT block DHT so you still will bald unless you take Propecia. Rogaine is just a growth stimulator. Rogaine DOES work but NOT as good as Propecia. In the first few years Rogaine reaches its maximum effect so for 2 years will see great results if you respond well to it and have non aggressive MPB. Look, if I did not get sides from Rogaine, I would still be using it. It does help some but nothing spectacular. If you don't mind the large sheds, Rogaine is fine. I am not saying it does not work, I am saying its not going to save your hair if you have aggressive MPB. Dr Rassman who writes a blog about hair loss info says he does not feel Rogaine is anything wonderful.

House, MD: "See, this is why I don't waste money on shrinks, cause you give me all this great insight for free."

In the first few years Rogaine reaches its maximum effect so for 2 years will see great results if you respond well to it and have non aggressive MPB.

What happens after 2 years, does it stop working?

So you are saying everyone gets the large regular sheds while on rogaine, meaning peoples hair will go from looking more full, to going straight back to looking slightly balding, then back again after more regrowth? Or is there more stability to it then that? And why would you want to go back on it (if you did not have side effects) if thats the best the process gives you? Why would anyone?

Agreed with DoctorHouse. And when I quit Minoxidil I had a terrible Telogen effluvium. It took almost a year to recover as he mentioned. I wish I hadn't started it but all the fear of losing my hair made me keep at it until the side effects got bad.